Australian Government - Tax Practicioners Board
The Code of Professional Conduct (Code) is a legislated code that sets out the professional and ethical standards required of registered tax agents and Business Activity Statement (BAS) agents. It outlines the duties that agents owe to their clients, the Tax Practitioners Board (Board) and other agents.
The Code includes a number of core principles organised into five categories:
· Honesty and integrity
· Independence
· Confidentiality
· Competence
· Other responsibilities
The Code has 14 principles:
Honesty and integrity
(1) You must act honestly and with integrity.
(2) You must comply with the taxation laws in the conduct of your personal affairs.
(3) If: (a) you receive money or other property from or on behalf of a client, and
(b) you hold the money or other property on trust you must account to your client for the money or other property.
Independence
(4) You must act lawfully in the best interests of your client.
(5) You must have in place adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest that may arise in relation to the activities that you undertake in the capacity of a registered tax agent or BAS agent. Confidentiality
(6) Unless you have a legal duty to do so, you must not disclose any information relating to a client’s affairs to a third party without your client’s permission.
Competence
(7) You must ensure that a tax agent service you provide, or that is provided on your behalf, is provided competently.
(8) You must maintain knowledge and skills relevant to the tax agent services that you provide.
(9) You must take reasonable care in ascertaining a client’s state of affairs, to the extent that ascertaining the state of those affairs is relevant to a statement you are making or an activity you are undertaking on behalf of the client.
(10) You must take reasonable care to ensure that taxation laws are applied correctly to the circumstances in relation to which you are providing advice to a client.
Other responsibilities
(11) You must not knowingly obstruct the proper administration of the taxation laws.
(12) You must advise your client of their rights and obligations under the taxation laws that are materially related to the tax agent services you provide.
(13) You must maintain the professional indemnity insurance that the Board requires you to maintain.
(14) You must respond to requests and directions from the Board in a timely, responsible and reasonable manner.
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